Surface-Diffusion Theory for Drying Creep Effect in Portland Cement Paste and Concrete

An attempt is made to introduce quantitative analysis into the complex problems of the mechanism of drying creep in cement paste. The main source of creep is assumed to be the change in thickness of hindered adsorbed water layers caused by diffusion of water, coupled with diffusion of solids dissolved from the confining adsorbent particles. The basic equations of equilibrium and irreversible thermodynamics governing the problem are formulated, reduced to an initial-boundary value problem, and solved numerically. Computer studies have indicated that the drying creep effect is very likely caused by nonlinear coupling between the diffusion of water and that of solids in the hindered adsorbed layers.     

Optimal Control of the Secondary Drying Stage of Freeze Drying of Solutions in Vials Using Variational Calculus

Abstract:

The problem of operating freeze drying of pharmaceutical products in vials loaded on trays of freeze dryer to obtain a desired final bound water content in minimum time is formulated as an optimal control problem. Two different types of freeze dryer designs were considered. In the type I freeze dryer design, upper and lower plate temperatures were controlled together, while in the type II freeze dryer design, upper and lower plate temperatures were controlled independently. The heat input to the material being dried and the drying chamber pressure were considered as control variables. Only the scorch temperature was considered as a constraint on the system state variables during the secondary drying stage, because all the free water content (frozen water) is removed from the solid matrix during the primary drying stage of freeze drying. Necessary conditions of optimality for the secondary drying stage of freeze drying process in vials were derived and presented by using rigorous multidimensional unsteady-state mathematical models. The theoretical approach presented in this work was applied in the freeze drying of skim milk. Significant reductions in drying times of the secondary drying stage of the freeze drying process in vials were observed and more uniform bound water and temperature distributions in the material being dried were obtained compared to the conventional operational policies.     

Optimal Control of the Primary Drying Stage of Freeze Drying of Solutions in Vials Using Variational Calculus

The problem of operating freeze drying of pharmaceutical products in vials placed in trays of a freeze dryer to remove free water (in frozen state) at a minimum time was formulated as an optimal control problem. Two different types of freeze dryer designs were considered. In type I freeze dryer design, upper and lower plate temperatures were controlled together, while in type II freeze dryer design, upper and lower plate temperatures were controlled independently. The heat input to the material being dried and the drying chamber pressure were considered as control variables. Constraints were placed on the system state variables by the melting and scorch temperatures during primary drying stage. Necessary conditions of optimality for the primary drying stage of freeze drying process in vials are derived and presented. Furthermore, an approach for constructing the optimal control policies that would minimize the drying time for the primary drying stage was given. In order to analyze optimal control policy for the primary drying stage of the freeze-drying process in vials, a rigorous multi-dimensional unsteady state mathematical model was used. The theoretical approach presented in this work was applied in the freeze drying of skim milk. Significant reductions in the drying times of primary drying stage of freeze drying process in vials were obtained, as compared to the drying times obtained from conventional operational policies.     

Uptake and loss of water in a cenosphere-concrete composite material

Cenospheres are hollow, aluminum silicate spheres, between 10 and 300 μm in diameter. Their low specific gravity (0.67) makes them ideal replacements for fine sand for producing low-density concrete. In an effort to understand the potential for practical use of the cenospheres as a fine aggregate in concrete, the moisture uptake and loss by cenospheres and water uptake and loss in cenosphere-concrete composites have been studied in this paper. The equilibrium moisture content of cenospheres is about 18 times higher than that of sand, reflecting the porous nature of cenospheres. The temporal evolution of water penetration into the cenosphere-concrete is modeled using Washburn kinetics. The effective pore size using this model is of the order of several nanometers. These results imply a lack of connectivity within the pores, leading to a low permeability. SEM images of the concrete reveal pore sizes of the order of 2-5 μm. The drying flux for cenospheres shows a classical behavior—a constant rate followed by a linear falling rate period. Thus, experiments done at these conditions can be used to predict drying times for wet cenospheres exposed to other environments. The flux of water vapor away from both the cenosphere-concrete as well as the normal concrete shows a nonlinear change with moisture content throughout the drying cycle, implying that the pore structure within the concrete strongly influences the drying behavior.     

Optimal Control of the Primary Drying Stage of Freeze Drying of Solutions in Vials Using Variational Calculus

Abstract

The problem of operating freeze drying of pharmaceutical products in vials placed in trays of a freeze dryer to remove free water (in frozen state) at a minimum time was formulated as an optimal control problem. Two different types of freeze dryer designs were considered. In type I freeze dryer design, upper and lower plate temperatures were controlled together, while in type II freeze dryer design, upper and lower plate temperatures were controlled independently. The heat input to the material being dried and the drying chamber pressure were considered as control variables. Constraints were placed on the system state variables by the melting and scorch temperatures during primary drying stage. Necessary conditions of optimality for the primary drying stage of freeze drying process in vials are derived and presented. Furthermore, an approach for constructing the optimal control policies that would minimize the drying time for the primary drying stage was given. In order to analyze optimal control policy for the primary drying stage of the freeze-drying process in vials, a rigorous multi-dimensional unsteady state mathematical model was used. The theoretical approach presented in this work was applied in the freeze drying of skim milk. Significant reductions in the drying times of primary drying stage of freeze drying process in vials were obtained, as compared to the drying times obtained from conventional operational policies.     

新型高效复合吸附剂开发及系统仿真

针对一种新型高效复合吸附剂开展了吸附性能实验研究,并假想将该复合吸附剂装填于一固体吸附式空调样机吸附床内进而开展仿真研究。对比研究表明该复合吸附剂不但具有比硅胶强得多的吸附能力,而且再生温度较低。装填该复合吸附剂的吸附式空调不但可以获得比装填纯硅胶时高得多的比制冷功率SCP,而且系统性能系数COP也明显高于纯硅胶系统。     

Analysis and modelling of the operation of a counterflow multistage fluidized bed adsorber for drying moist airAnalyse und modellierung der arbeitsweise eines mehrstufigen Gegenstrom-Wirbelbettadsorbers zur lufttrocknung

This paper presents an analysis of the drying of moist air by adsorption on alumina particles flowing continuously in a counterflow five-stage fluidized bed adsorber. The drying efficiency is seen to be mainly influenced by the flowrates of the adsorbent and gas. Contrary to a generally accepted assumption, it clearly appears that mass transfer equilibrium between gas and solids leaving each stage is not attained.A model taking into account not only the adsorption rate but also the residence time distribution of solids in the stages is proposed. This model is based on Davidson and Harrison's assumptions for bubbling fluidized beds. It leads to fairly reasonable predictions.     

OPTIMAL CONTROL OF THE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DRYING STAGES OF BULK SOLUTION FREEZE DRYING IN TRAYS

The problem of operating a tray freeze dryer to obtain a desired final bound water content in minimum time is formulated as an optimal control problem with the use of the rigorous unsteady state mathematical model of Sadikoglu and Liapis [9] that has been found to describe satisfactorily the experimental dynamic behavior of the primary and secondary drying stages of bulk solution freeze drying of pharmaceuticals in trays. The heat input to the material being dried and the drying chamber pressure are considered to be control variables. Constraints are placed on the system state variables by the melting and scorch temperatures during primary drying, and by the scorch temperature during secondary drying. Necessary conditions of optimality for both the primary and secondary drying stages are derived and presented, and an approach for constructing the optimal control policies that would minimize the drying times for both the primary and secondary drying stages, is presented. The theoretical approach presented in this work was applied in the freeze drying of skim milk, and significant reductions in the drying times of primary and secondary drying were obtained, when compared with the drying times obtained using the operational policies reported in the literature, by using the optimal control policies constructed from the theory presented in this work. Furthermore, it is shown that the optimal control policy leads to the desired in practice result of having at the end of secondary drying temperature and bound water concentration profiles (in the dried layer) whose gradients are very small. It is also shown that by using the optimal control policy and an excipient capable of increasing the melting temperature without affecting product quality, one can significantly reduce the drying time of the primary drying stage.     

Modeling Superheated Steam Vacuum Drying of Wood

A two-dimensional mathematical model developed for vacuum-contact drying of wood was adapted to simulate superheated steam vacuum drying. The moisture and heat equations are based on the water potential concept whereas the pressure equation is formulated considering unsteady-state mass conservation of dry air. A drying test conducted on sugar maple sapwood in a laboratory vacuum kiln was used to infer the convective mass and heat transfer coefficients through a curve fitting technique. The average air velocity was 2.5 m s^-1 and the dry-bulb temperature varied between 60 and 66°C. The ambient pressure varied from 15 to 11 kPa. Simulation results indicate that heat and mass transfer coefficients are moisture content dependent. The simulated drying curve based on transfer coefficients calculated from boundary layer theory poorly fits experimental results. The functional relation for the relative permeability of wood to air is a key parameter in predicting the pressure evolution in wood in the course of drying. In the case of small vacuum kilns, radiant heat can contribute substantially to the total heat transfer to the evaporative surface at the early stages of drying. As for conventional drying, the air velocity could be reduced at the latter stage of drying with little or no change to the drying rate.     

Multi-Pass Sorption Drying of Paddy Using Rice Husk Adsorbent: Experiments and Simulation

A single-stage sorption drying of paddy with rice husk adsorbent cannot reduce its moisture content to a safe level since the relative humidity of air inside the mixing tank is very high. To obtain a safe moisture content, multi-pass sorption drying was used and the effect of operating parameters—i.e., rice husk density, rice husk initial moisture content, and volumetric mixing ratio of paddy to rice husk—on the drying time and paddy quality were investigated for two paddy varieties, Suphanburi 1 and Khao Dawk Mali 105. A mathematical model associated with the transfers of heat and mass between the grain and adsorbent was also formulated to explore the sensitivity of the operating parameters to the drying time. Both the experiment and the simulation showed that the drying time was shorter by using a lower initial moisture content of rice husk, a higher rice husk bulk density, and a higher volumetric mixing ratio, the last factor being less important. For quality assessment, the color of white rice for both paddy varieties changed insignificantly under the influence of all the operating parameters, but the head rice quality was rather sensitive to the operating conditions especially for the Khao Dawk Mali 105, which had a 6–10% lower in head rice yield compared to that of the reference samples.     

硅胶及其混合吸附剂——水吸附工质对性能测试

测试了硅胶-水吸附制冷工质对的等量吸附线,且利用各类吸附方程对实验测量数据进行拟合以用于硅胶-水冷水机组的整体系统的数值模拟。实验还通过在纯硅胶颗粒中添加黏结剂或膨胀石墨形成混合吸附剂来提高传热性能。研究表明混合吸附剂（黏结剂的含量为1.1％）在解吸过程中前5min的解吸量相对于纯硅胶颗粒吸附剂提高了13.8％;解吸15min时,混合吸附剂的解吸量相对于纯吸附剂仅提高2.5％。表明混合吸附剂有利于缩短吸附循环周期。在添加剂质量分数相同的情况下,利用膨胀石墨作添加剂形成的混合吸附剂与通过浸泡于黏结剂溶液中形成的混合吸附剂的吸附性能相同,但有其各自的优缺点。     

OPTIMAL CONTROL OF THE PRIMARY AND SECONDARY DRYING STAGES OF BULK SOLUTION FREEZE DRYING IN TRAYS

Abstract

The problem of operating a tray freeze dryer to obtain a desired final bound water content in minimum time is formulated as an optimal control problem with the use of the rigorous unsteady state mathematical model of Sadikoglu and Liapis [9] that has been found to describe satisfactorily the experimental dynamic behavior of the primary and secondary drying stages of bulk solution freeze drying of pharmaceuticals in trays. The heat input to the material being dried and the drying chamber pressure are considered to be control variables. Constraints are placed on the system state variables by the melting and scorch temperatures during primary drying, and by the scorch temperature during secondary drying. Necessary conditions of optimality for both the primary and secondary drying stages are derived and presented, and an approach for constructing the optimal control policies that would minimize the drying times for both the primary and secondary drying stages, is presented. The theoretical approach presented in this work was applied in the freeze drying of skim milk, and significant reductions in the drying times of primary and secondary drying were obtained, when compared with the drying times obtained using the operational policies reported in the literature, by using the optimal control policies constructed from the theory presented in this work. Furthermore, it is shown that the optimal control policy leads to the desired in practice result of having at the end of secondary drying temperature and bound water concentration profiles (in the dried layer) whose gradients are very small. It is also shown that by using the optimal control policy and an excipient capable of increasing the melting temperature without affecting product quality, one can significantly reduce the drying time of the primary drying stage.     

Modeling Superheated Steam Vacuum Drying of Wood

Abstract

A two-dimensional mathematical model developed for vacuum-contact drying of wood was adapted to simulate superheated steam vacuum drying. The moisture and heat equations are based on the water potential concept whereas the pressure equation is formulated considering unsteady-state mass conservation of dry air. A drying test conducted on sugar maple sapwood in a laboratory vacuum kiln was used to infer the convective mass and heat transfer coefficients through a curve fitting technique. The average air velocity was 2.5 m s^?1 and the dry-bulb temperature varied between 60 and 66°C. The ambient pressure varied from 15 to 11 kPa. Simulation results indicate that heat and mass transfer coefficients are moisture content dependent. The simulated drying curve based on transfer coefficients calculated from boundary layer theory poorly fits experimental results. The functional relation for the relative permeability of wood to air is a key parameter in predicting the pressure evolution in wood in the course of drying. In the case of small vacuum kilns, radiant heat can contribute substantially to the total heat transfer to the evaporative surface at the early stages of drying. As for conventional drying, the air velocity could be reduced at the latter stage of drying with little or no change to the drying rate.     

Electric conductivity measurements in water dispersion paints for mechanistic studies of reflection properties formation during surface painting and paint film drying

Electric conductivity measurements of water dispersion paints were carried out in order to understand the mechanism of film formation and drying and the formation of painted surface reflection properties. The classical model of electric conductivity in viscous media based on a comparison of the Coulomb and Stokes formulas was used to determine the effective mechanism of the paint properties. This model was verified by measurements in the paint bulk. The classical concept of the electric conductivity of viscous liquids was found to be applicable to the conductivity analysis of the studied water dispersion paint specimens. The electric conductivity of the studied paints was found to be determined by the existing admixtures being soluble in water and/or dispersion organic particles. The formulated method for dynamic conductivity measurements of paint film thickness assumed a constant temperature and viscosity. Strong electrostatic phenomena were detected at the initial stage of paint aerosol deposition, while a compact film has not been formed yet. The film conductivity measuring experiments found that the film drying process consists of two stages. At the first stage, conductivity is sharply decreasing and the paint film reflectivity is sharply increasing. At the second stage, evaporation is delayed. It is limited by the diffusion transfer of volatile components from the film bulk and from the paint dispersion particles. Here, a slow growth of the reflectivity and a decelerating decrease in the conductivity is observed. A qualitative mathematical dynamic model was developed for the paint film reflectivity due to the orientation of pigment particles, and the calculations showed that the first stage of drying is the most important for the orientation.     

不同初始含水率湿天然橡胶微波干燥特性研究

对不同初始含水率的湿天然橡胶(NR)微波干燥特性进行了研究。结果表明,湿天然橡胶微波干燥的全过程可分为加速、减速、相对恒速干燥三个阶段;湿天然橡胶快速干燥和较快速干燥阶段为物料干燥的主要阶段;不同的初始含水率对湿天然橡胶的干燥过程和产品表观质量影响较大,胶料初始含水率越高,干燥速率越快,但干燥时间较长,且产品表观质量较差,初始含水率越低,干燥时间短,产品表观质量较好;湿天然橡胶微波干燥较佳初始含水率范围为10%～20%。     

复合吸附剂MWCNT/MgCl2的水蒸气吸附性能

通过研磨将多壁碳纳米管分别与质量分数为30%、40%和50%的无水氯化镁复合,制备了3种不同配比的复合吸附剂MWCNT/MgCl₂。采用数字化扫描电子显微镜（SEM）观察复合吸附剂表面材质的结构样貌,通过Hot Disk热常数分析仪测得复合吸附剂的热导率,使用恒温恒湿箱选取具有代表性的温湿度,测试复合吸附剂在不同工况下的水蒸气吸附性能,并采用准二级动力学模型对25℃、50% RH工况下的实验数据进行拟合,应用Autosorb-IQ全自动气体分析仪测试了三种样品在25℃下的等温吸湿曲线。实验结果表明,相同温湿度工况下,随着氯化镁含量增加,复合吸附剂的吸附量提高,25℃、50% RH下氯化镁含量为30%、40%和50%的复合吸附剂M1、M2和M3的吸附量分别为0.62、0.79和0.94 g/g;恒定湿度为50% RH,温度变化为15~35℃时,复合吸附剂吸附量受温度和饱和水蒸气分压力的双重影响,表现为先增加后减小;温度固定为25℃,相对湿度从50% RH增加到80% RH时,复合吸附剂吸附量均大大提升;复合吸附剂在35℃、25% RH中高温、低湿条件下仍表现出较好的吸附能力;在相对压力P/P₀为0.3时,M1、M2和M3的吸附量分别为0.24、0.25和0.30 g/g,随着吸附压力的增加,复合吸附剂的吸附量也不断提升,最大吸附量分别达到3.54、3.75和4.42 g/g。复合吸附剂MWCNT/MgCl₂的制备研究,为吸附剂的性能研究提供了基础,对太阳能吸附式空气取水的研究具有潜在意义。     

Modeling of Drying of Gaseous Mixtures in TSA System with Fixed Bed of Solid Desiccants

A nonisothermal, nonequilibrium mathematical model was developed to theoretically analyze adsorptive drying of gaseous mixtures containing water and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The analysis concerns a four-bed cyclic temperature swing adsorption (TSA) system. The two fixed beds are formed of silica gel primarily as the water vapor adsorbent. The other two consist of activated carbon as the adsorbent of the organic component (e.g., benzene, isopropanol). In the model, possible insignificant interactions among the VOCs and water during adsorption and desorption were neglected. The following parameters were considered to study their effect on the process efficiency: relative humidity of the inlet gas, temperature of the purge gas, and height of the adsorbent beds. Simulation results showed that both the shape of the adsorption isotherm and heat effects played an important role in the breakthrough behavior of water vapor adsorption on silica gel. The model accurately simulated experimental data taken from literature.